Homemade Carpenter Bee Traps

Susan Paretts

Carpenter bees, unlike honeybees, can damage your home by burrowing into its wood structures. If you find holes in the wood around your house, along with discoloration from bee waste on the floor beneath, you likely have a carpenter bee infestation. Create some homemade traps to help deal with these pests.

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Carpenter bees tend to avoid treated or painted wood.

They Check In But Don't Check Out

Use soft, untreated and unpainted wood, like pine or cedar, that's around 1 inch thick to make your bee trap. Build a box with the wood, about the size of a bird house, with a straight roof that has a half-inch overhang. Drill a half-inch hole into each side of the cube at an upward angle to allow the bees to enter. You'll also need to drill a hole into the bottom of the trap that's the same size as the lid of a clear plastic or glass bottle. Glue just the lid into the hole and drill a half-inch hole through its center. Screw the bottle into it. The bees will mistake the bottle for an escape route and fly into it, where they will become trapped. The bees in the trap will attract others.

Trap Tips to Consider

Hang traps in areas where you have found carpenter bee damage. Empty the traps of the dead bees once they become full, but leave a couple bees behind to attract more. Plug up all holes around your home with wood filler and paint the wood to discourage carpenter bees from boring into it, encouraging them to enter the traps instead.